Welcome to another Music Monday! In each installment, I’ll be bringing you a different artist talking about how they stay healthy on the road. This series is part of a larger project I am working on in conjunction with the nonprofit, WhyHunger, which works to fight hunger and poverty by connecting people to nutritious, affordable food and by supporting grassroots solutions that inspire self-reliance and community empowerment. If you have the time, take a look at their site, and please feel free to share this with your social networks, especially with your music-loving friends!

Welcome to another Music Monday-today’s a special Family Edition. Though not a “road-bound” musician like his brother Alan, communication and stress management expert Philip Mandel actually turned his healthy living “wake-up call” into a second career.

Philip Mandel

After watching a friend lose 35 pounds through a program called Take Shape For Life, Mandel was inspired to shave 25 pounds off his own six-foot frame. “He went to a gazelle on the tennis court,” says Mandel, recalling his friend’s success. “At that time, his extended family had already lost nearly 1,000 pounds. I saw him slim down. Then he joined [TSFL] as a Health Coach, and I followed him.” Since then, Mandel has maintained his weight around 170 pounds by eating 6-7 times per day, drinking lots of water, and making healthy choices.

Being in good shape enables him to enjoy his favorite pastimes, including playing music at weddings, holiday parties, or at home. “I prefer to play classical music, but when you play parties, you gotta play what they wanna hear, so I play it all! Old standards, light jazz, tunes from musicals, a few pop tunes…”

If you or anyone you know would like to be featured on Music Monday, get at me! KeepingItRealFood(at)gmail(dot)com